Notice that these are not programs to be implemented but rather a lifestyle to be lived. This makes things both easier and harder. It is always easier to blame Christians as a whole than to become the ideal yourself. However, you do not need pastoral or committee approval to implement these changes; you just need to love your church, love your family, and guard your eyes and heart.

For more resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

We each deserve death because of our own sins. Sin brings death, and Adam’s sin brought sin to all of us as his descendants. Nevertheless, we still justly earn our own condemnation.

For more resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

Why indeed would the psalmist make this passionate cry if his keeping of God’s statutes were already steadfast? Within this plea of desire, we also find a lamentation. His life does not fully conform to his theology. He knows the goodness of God’s commands, yet he still wanders away from them. He yearns to be steadfast, but he ebbs and flows like the tides.

For more resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

Secularism is very much a religion, and if the sexual revolution that began in the sixties was its equivalent of the Reformation, then we are presently living through its Great Awokening.

Christian, in your flesh, you are incapable of obeying God’s law, and that is why your hope is in Christ rather than in yourself.

And although the Iliad certainly ought to be read, there is a great danger in not going further into that great conversation. In comparison to the mushiness of our postmodern world, where division is very often actively fostered, the ancient wisdom of Homer can seem like a firm foundation. Indeed, that is certainly why paganism is a growing worldview. Yet the hope of mutual shared grief in light of life’s suffering is no hope at all. Or, at best, it is hope for some kind of hope.

For more resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

Sadly, the world’s proclamation that kindness is everything only means that we must affirm all those who continue to drive their metaphorical cars off the broken bridge of their sin. As Christians, we must reject such a mockery of kindness and of love, for it is not kind or loving to pretend that unrepentant sin does not lead to death! Instead, we must imitate our Lord, who never flinched from exposing sin’s hideousness, while also never failing to love and serve those around Him. Such kindness is too deep for secular hearts to grasp; therefore, let us show them in word and deed the boundless kindness of our Savior.

For more resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

In the New City Catechism’s brief trek through the Ten Commandments, we come now to the final two. Unlike the prohibitions against murder, adultery, or theft, we might be tempted to these final two commandments deal with less severe sins. The reality, however, is that the Ninth and Tenth Commandments are just as endemic and deadly as the ones we have studied so far.

Men, brethren, and fathers, you are called to a high and holy calling: your work is full of danger, full of duty, and full of mercy. You are called to the winning of souls; an employment near akin unto our Lord's work,—the saving of souls; and the nearer your spirits be in conformity to his holy temper and frame, the fitter you are for, and the more fruitful you shall be in, your work.

For more resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co

Like an athlete practices to compete or a soldier trains for war, we must devote ourselves to keeping the commands of our God. Diligence should mark the life of God’s people.

For more resources for knowing and loving God's Word, visit bcnewton.co